The Fallen Unicorn
by TwinMoons
Summary: The Massacre of the Unicorn Brigade, told in the perspective of a dying, forgotten youth. (a.k.a. one of the random characters) Also obscenely short.


**The Fallen Unicorn**

_Hurts...it hurts..._

Fire tore through the tents and their supplies, fire everywhere. It was all so sudden…he was deep in dreams of home when it happened. There was no warning. They just signed a peace treaty. It was impossible. Yet, the arrow sunk deep in his back was telling him differently. There was a bitter iron taste in his mouth, and the boy knew it to be blood.

_Blood from the mouth...what did the Commander say about that? Too late? No hope? Dying?  
  
It hurts...mother..._

He didn't want to die. He joined the Unicorn Brigade to fight for Highland, true, but he didn't want to die! The future still waited for him, there was still a whole future to go on!

_Mother...father..._

Thoughts raced back to home. Strange, that. When everything was all right, they'd brag to each other about who's the least crybaby. It was an insane pride game to never miss their parents. Strange that he should think of them now...

_It was only tomorrow..._

Tomorrow, and he'd be home. Didn't he just joke with Jowy about that? And finally mustered up enough courage to broach the subject of his feelings for Nanami to Riou? It was only yesterday...it was just tomorrow...

_I don't want to die!_

The boy coughed and wheezed, trying to get up and falling down, all strength lost. Blood ran down his arms. His blood. He could see it gathering in pools even with his dimming vision. What did the Commander say? Was that dying?  
  
_I don't want to die! I want to live! LIVE!_

The City-States were supposed to be friends. They signed the treaty! There was supposed to be peace...this wasn't supposed to happen! They betrayed Highland...trickery...treachery…massacre…

Then he realized the word he'd just accept. _Massacre, _he thought, dimly. _Mass killing. Me and my friends. Everybody._

It was strange how the mind turned to the least likely thing in death. "…I'm gonna…die…" he whispered, trying to taste the coldness of it. It was no more than a breath. Maybe the rest of them might be able to get away. The sound of fighting was impossible to ignore, even if they didn't stand a chance. Some of them were going to live.

And he was going to be gone, the boy realized. All that was him, forgotten. Just a name of the death. Even his family would forget him as generations passed by, as years passed by. All his dreams turned into dust like they never existed. Death was cold, dying.

"…hurts…" the boy whispered.

Then, his eyes closing, he felt a strong pull on his arm, tugging him up, supporting him. A desperate voice. A familiar voice. Who was it? He couldn't remember.

"…you…live! We…buddies...remem…" the voice shouted. He almost couldn't hear it. Who was it? What was he saying? What was he doing? The boy felt his body being dragged forward for a few feet, then falling as the other's pace faltered.

_It was no use, _he wanted to say. _Run for your life. I'm finished._

Yet all he could managed was "…Mother…"

The tug on his arm grew stronger. "...get…through this…live…Kyaro…" the other voice shouted into his ears. It was annoying. Couldn't the guy see he needed his peace?

_Have I accepted death? But I don't want to die. _

He heard footsteps, shouts. The boy carrying him said a name, and he realized it was Jowy and Riou. Good. They were still alive. They're the best people in the Unicorn Brigade, they'd make it home. Riou and Jowy would make it past the forest. Home.

_Live,_ he wanted to say. _Live. Remember me to my parents, to Nanami. Remember at all. Remember the boy who used to throw apples at both of you, used to skip laundry duty. Remember me._

_Live._

With these as his thoughts, he found himself drifting. The pain from the arrow had subsided, the shouts and screams more distant. Even as the other boy tried to pull him forward, he found himself unable to assist or resist. The world seemed only like a distant place, an untouchable reflection in the mirror.

His cracked, fallen helmet lay on the other side of the mountain path, the crest of the unicorn chipped away. The unicorn was a symbol of innocence. The unicorn was naïve. The unicorn was proud. And the unicorn died.

The flames would not stop raging until later in that night. And by that time, in remembering the Massacre of the Unicorn Brigade, the world would've forgotten the boy with the arrow through his back.

-FIN-

Author's Notes : I spewed this out just to get my Suikoden creativity revitalized, so it's a tad too short. It's unedited, too, so there probably are grammatical mistakes. Any criticisms are welcomed. ^^


End file.
